Academ's Fury by Jim Butcher is the second novel in the Codex Alera sequence, featuring Tavi, a young man who has been taken under the wing of the First Lord of Alera and provided with sponsorship so that he can train as a Cursor. In the course of this book, the Alerans discover the threat of the Vord, a race of shapeshifters governed by queens who aim to destroy all life in Alera. Tavi discovers that his lack of furycrafting (the ability to manipulate natural forces) is a boon in the fight against the Vord, and he steps to the fore to try and push them back.Ugh, well, that summary took me around twenty minutes to write. Strikes me I don't want to be writing this review. Not because I didn't enjoy the book - in fact, I romped through it and immediately picked up the third book in the series. I like my high fantasy heroism, but this novel prompted me to ask the question on Twitter: "Should I write a review of individual books in a series or just provide a wrap up of the entire series?" Fact is, this review will read much like the first in the series (which can be found here).Academ's Fury is heavier on the political intrigue and moves much of the action to the city of Alera. There is more romance and more heroism. But there is also a greater feeling of D&D to this one - it feels like a mission written by a games master for a group of role players. For instance, the Vord came mostly out of nowhere - we sort of saw them in the first novel, but they were just called the croach or wax spiders. Suddenly in this book, they are the Vord and they have the capability of destroying all life. The fact that the Marat (eternal foes of the Vord) didn't recognise the Vord in the first novel is explained away glibly by the fact that they are shapeshifters and therefore unrecognisable. I found all of this completely unsatisfying.The characterisation is again the greatest part of Jim Butcher's writing. I loved the gentle romance between Amara and Bernard, and Kitai the Marat maiden is inspired - a sort of blend of Aviendha from the Wheel of Time series and Arya from A Song of Ice and Fire. Tavi is a very likeable hero indeed.But with that said, this novel felt more "empty" than the first. The cliches were definitely cliches, rather than fantasy tropes used well. Kid with lack of powers finds a way to defeat his enemies; woman decides to work with the enemy faction to protect her family, even though she despises them; heroes save the day in the end. It felt very light and, although I'm not looking for gritty, I wanted more depth than this.Ha, I've just discovered why I should be writing this review - in the process of writing it, I've found out that I actually didn't like it as much as Furies of Calderon, which opened the series. I still enjoyed a great deal about it - the furycrafting, the female characters (who are as gutsy, sly and interesting as the men), the Marat race and the Canin (which sort of remind me of the jackal-headed warriors from Ancient Egypt). Speaking of that, I also liked the soft world-building which borrows greatly from ancient civilisations such as the Romans in the form of legionares. But I struggled against the easy nature of it - the fact that I knew people wouldn't die, the fact that everyone essential would be rescued from peril in the nick of time. There was little tension or drama due to this, and therefore Academ's Fury had little impact.Consider this a mixed review. If you read and enjoy Furies of Calderon, you will end up reading this book. It is doubtful, however, that you will be able to remember many individual details soon after the reading process. (And my conclusion is that I always need to write reviews in order to make sense of how I really feel about a book!)
As seen on Stumptown Books.Although this installment was easier for me to read than Furies of Calderon (my groans were cut down by about a third, I'd say), I liked this second novel no more than the first one. It has been two years since the events of Furies, and we're plopped right back into the action without so much as an update, which at first had me a little miffed. The problem with plowing through novels so quickly is that proper nouns quickly find their way into the oubliette, so even though it's only been about two months, I was still playing catch up trying to remember who the characters were. On second thought, the names just aren't very memorable. I was 3/4s of the way through this book and explaining it to a friend and I had to grope for the main character's name. T...t...it's T-something I swear! Tavi? No wonder he's powerless, he sounds like a pussy.From the first page, Butcher sets up the story, and from there on out it is non-stop action. I like a good action scene as much as the next bloke, but in this case it really started to grate on me. The characters are never given a chance for introspection, besides sparing a thought or two for "I wonder where this other character is right now? No matter, off to another near death situation!" So once again, one of my main problems is the lack of character development. I know what the author wants the characters to be, but they never seem to get there on their own. We're just told they do, and I am baffled at people who say these characters feel "alive." Only alive in the sense that fire is alive; expanding the story and going new places but leaving nothing behind to appreciate. Honestly the only character I felt became a little more interesting in this novel was Fidelias, who I hated in the first book, so that's saying a lot. Making bad guys likable is always a plus in my book.What really interests me about this series is the weak (well, relatively) main character. Tavi uses his brains and quick wit to talk himself out of - or into - situations. Usually in fantasy novels, any sort of magic is regarded with suspicion, à la X-Men. Someone with crazy powers and inhuman strength is usually incredibly frightening to the layman. In these novels, however, Tavi is the only weak character without magic, and he's the weirdo and regarded with suspicion. This flips my thoughts on magic and powers on its head, and I like that. I can't help but be gut wrenchingly involved whenever Tavi is in the middle of the action. I always want THIS to be the moment when his powers manifest.I could have done without the weird women's right storyline. I know I know, I'm always touting about how sexist fantasy is and give me my strong female characters dammit. But in this case, it just came across as schmaltzy and a thoroughly fake storyline to throw some pretend politics into the mix. Without it, there would have been next to no politics in the novel, and Butcher obviously wants us to be aware of the political situation in the realm.The love story between Amara and Bernard was uncomfortable at best and gag worthy at worst. Here's my favorite quote from page 453:Amara let out a nervous little laugh, and her cheeks flushed hot. She took two steps to Bernard and leaned up to kiss him again. He returned it, one hand touching her waist, a possessive gesture.Please! That's so stilted it made me flush hot too. Hopefully it picks up a little in subsequent books.Pick this up if you want a fun romp with non stop action, with little consequence but also small reward. It definitely improves on the first novel, but not enough for me to legitimately like it on its own.
What do You think about Academ's Fury (2006)?
Minor spoilers follow as it is impossible to talk about the plot of the second book of the series without at least mentioning some characters indicating they survived to live by the beginning of the second one. Two years have passed since the events of the first book in the world with magic inspired by very popular Pokemon franchise with social structure coming straight from Ancient Rome. Thanks to a brilliant stroke by the First Lord (the Big Guy in charge of everything in the realm - for those unfamiliar with the series) in political maneuvering the main characters of the first book - a former shepherd boy Tavi and his foster parents - now have to support the First Lord at all cost whether they like it or not. So Tavi studies in the capital's Academy, his aunt stays at her steadhold (a glorified huge farm), and his uncle is in charge of local military unit. Their world is not exactly a very peaceful place; in fact the only one more dangerous I can think of is David Gemmell's Drenai. Anyway, a new almost alien threat appeared - straight from John Carpenter's movie The Thing. Now the three people I mentioned and their sidekicks are the only defense of the realm against total destruction. Do I need to say none of trio has any superpowers? Tavi cannot even use any magic at all. Minor spoilers end here.One third of the book was spent on hinting at gloomy and apocalyptic things to come. While the plot moved alone with a decent pace without losing any momentum I still got bored. I cannot even explain the reason for this, I just did. I was sure this would have 3-star rating until I hit the second third of the tale when plot switched from fast moving to flying (supersonic aircraft style) mode. Once things began moving they really moved with people escaping extremely dangerous situations by inches only to end up in much worse ones. This reminded me of one of my favorite quotes by Robert Asprin: "When things are at their blackest, I say to myself, 'Cheer up, things could be worse.' And sure enough, they get worse."At this point my resolve to give 3 stars started to get weaker. And then I hit the last third of the book. That portion of the novel contained such a nice and absolutely unexpected twist that I forgave the part where I got bored, I forgave the use of typical and worn-out classic fantasy tropes, I forgave killing off a fascinating character just when (s)he was getting some screen time, I forgave Tavi becoming the Wonder Boy for no apparent reason, I forgave countless other things. This was good enough for me to warrant 4 stars. Before I conclude my review,The first book could almost be considered standalone ad it finishes practically all the plot points. This one albeit without cliffhanger at the end, still has enough dangling threads to knit a sweater for a medium-sized elephant. Among other things this means that if you made it this far it is too late to stop now - and it applies to me as well. My special thanks go to my friend Jaime for the ideal Pokemon image idea:)
—Evgeny
Executive Summary: The chosen one goes to school in the capital and politics abound! If you enjoyed the first book, I think you'll find a lot to like here as Mr. Butcher continues to build out the world from the first book.Audio book: Kate Reading once more does a great job as a reader. I've gotten used to her reading all the male voices so it's much less noticeable.One of her voices in this one is so spot on to what I imagined, I find it annoying (because I find the way that character talks to be annoying). Doing the audiobooks for this series aren't a must like Mr. Butcher's Dresden Files, but they certainly aren't a bad option in my opinion. Full ReviewLike the last book, this one started a little slow for me. It also leans heavily on tropes. We get a bit of the magical school trope here, though not a lot of it. For me that's a bad thing, because it's one of the reason I like Harry Potter so much.Then again when your protagonist has no magical abilities to speak of, I guess it makes little sense to dwell on the magical training that takes place there. Instead most of the focus is on politics between not only the various Aleran factions, but also with the Canim, a fierce wolf-like race who despite being considered enemies of the Alerans, maintain an embassy in the capital. This leads to one of my favorite characters of the series, Ambassador Varg.This book also introduces my other favorite in Antillar Maximus. His antics remind me a bit of Harry Dresden and add some levity that was mostly lacking from the first novel.Now what magical school story would be complete without the asshole bully, that I like to call "The Malfoy"? (I know Harry Potter wasn't the first to use this trope, but its arguably the most popular). Tavi must deal with bullying on a more severe scale than he ever faced back home in the form of Kalarus Brencis Minoris, son of High Lord Kalarus and his two cronies. Is it a requirement the bully have exactly 2 cronies? It certainly seems like it.The stereotypical bully isn't the only thing of concern here however, and there are once again shades of gray when it comes to just who is "good" and who is "bad", all rolled up into the politics between nobles that are the most powerful in more than just title. Seriously, you do not want to be trapped in a dark alley with a High Lord or Lady whose pissed at you. It won't end well.The story is also split with events back in the Calderon valley. I found that subplot a bit slow/uninteresting on this re-read, although Doroga helps to make it worthwhile and the second half of that story is a lot more enjoyable than the first.Overall I found there is a lot I like here, in particular the politics and some of the new characters, that help me get over some of the slower parts of the story.On to book 3, which is one of my all-time favorites!
—Rob
-Desarrollando el trasfondo y las intrigas de la saga.-Género. Narrativa Fantástica.Lo que nos cuenta. En la frontera oriental del reino de Alera, los marat son ahora un pueblo aliado pero la “excursión” de Tavi y Kitai al Bosque de Cera parece haber liberado algo muy peligroso, y Amara es testigo de la destrucción que puede llegar a causar ese algo. En la capital, el Primer Señor de Alera está pagando un precio muy alto por usar demasiado sus poderes y Tavi compagina su trabajo al servicio de Gaius Sextus con su formación como cursor, dentro de la que recibe el encargo de localizar a un escurridizo ladrón, además de entrar en contacto con el embajador de los Canim mientras intenta ocultar lo que sucede con Gaius. Segundo libro de la serie Codex Alera.¿Quiere saber más de este libro, sin spoilers? Visite:http://librosdeolethros.blogspot.com/...
—Olethros
